There are many applications that require the treatment of fluids such as water. Such applications may include, but are not limited to, commercial and industrial cooling towers (i.e., for cooling industrial machinery, heating/air conditioning systems, refrigeration units, etc. . . . ) closed-loop water circulating systems, hydronic heating water circulating loops, water softening systems, systems that treat water for swimming pools, etc. . . .
In such applications, the fluid treatment may involve adding chemicals or other substances to the fluid, or to neutralize or reduce undesirable chemicals, or substances such as bacteria, from the fluid.
To add chemicals or other substances to the fluid, the fluid is typically circulated through a treatment system. One such treatment system 100 that may used, for example, in treating a commercial or industrial water cooling tower, is shown in the partial exploded view of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the treatment system includes a fluid outlet 102, a cylinder 104 that is filled with treatment baskets shown at 106 that hold treatment chemical pellets or powder (not shown), and a fluid inlet 108. Not shown, the treatment baskets are typically enclosed, for example using a treatment basket lid. A lid 110 is placed on a top of the cylinder 104. The treatment baskets 106 are four inch diameter stainless steel or plastic baskets 16 to 32 inches in height, enclosed at the top and bottom, with a hole pattern disposed in the basket sides, the hole pattern allowing water circulated through the treatment system to dissolve the chemical pellets and thereby to distribute the chemical into the water.
Servicing such water treatment systems of FIG. 1 is time-consuming, as it requires service personnel to remove potentially heavy baskets from the top of the system, refill the baskets 106 with new chemicals, and insert the baskets back into the treatment housing 104. Further, the baskets 106 give little control over the rate the chemical pellets are distributed into the water being treated. If it becomes necessary to alter the chemical distribution rate of the fluid/water being treated, the chemical composition and/or coating of the chemical pellets must be changed to achieve the desired distribution rate. Alteration of the chemical composition and/or pellet coating may be a complicated procedure and require custom chemical pellet makeup for a particular application. Further, the conversion of treatment chemicals to a pellet form for use in the baskets may be a complicated and time-consuming process.
This invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.